21 NPAs surrender in Sultan Kudarat province
Mindanao Peace Process • 15:30 PM Tue Jun 1, 2021
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By:
John M. Unson
Photos from 603rd Infantry Brigade and 6th Infantry Division.
SULTAN KUDARAT --- Enticed by how former comrades got reintegrated into mainstream society, 21 members of the New People’s Army surrendered in Lebak town on Tuesday morning.
Major Gen. Juvymax Uy, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the 21 rebels yielded through the intercession of Col. Eduardo Gubat of the 603rd Infantry Brigade and local officials in Lebak, a seaside town in Sultan Kudarat province.
The group turned over assorted firearms to Gubat in the presence of Lebak municipal officials.
Lebak Mayor Frederick Celestial said the 21 NPAs agreed to surrender after learning that companions who yielded ahead had been reintroduced to the local communities, now thriving peacefully as farmers.
More than a hundred NPAs surrendered in batches to different units of 6th ID in the past seven months, among them guerillas from forested hinterlands in the provinces of South Cotabato and Sarangani.
Uy said the local government unit of Lebak provided the 21 NPAs who have returned to the fold of law initial cash assistance and farm inputs they need for rice and corn production.
Uy said the group pledged allegiance to the Philippine government after renouncing membership with the NPA during a simple surrender rite in Lebak.